Nathan Luff's Blog, page 7

Happy Book Week!

Happy Book Week everybody. Don’t forget to give your favourite book a hug or a kiss this week and tell it how much you appreciate it. Perhaps you could make your favourite book a cake (I’m happy to eat the cake if your book doesn’t want it). At this time of the year I also like to take a moment to think about all the books out there suffering from broken spines, dog-eared pages, water damage, and neglect. The world can be a very cruel place.

I’ve had to pull back from my book week appearances this year due to a million other commitments but I did manage to run a few writing workshops at St Brigid’s Primary in Coogee on Friday, and next week I’m off to The Hunter Valley Grammar School on Monday and St Mary’s Primary in North Sydney on Tuesday to share my love of books with all the students there.

May your days be filled with the sweet smell of new (or old) books and the comforting sound of pages being turned. Enjoy!

The Worst Christmas Present

As we hurtle towards Christmas, I have decided to gift you with a Christmas story from my past. This story is about the worst Christmas present I ever received.

I don’t remember ever wanting an electric toothbrush but there was a time in my teenage years when they came into fashion and if you had an electric toothbrush, you were pretty hot stuff. So that must have been the reason my grandmother decided to buy me one – it was either that or I had really awful teeth and no one was brave enough to tell me (in case I bit them with these horrible rancid teeth).

So my grandmother went to the shops and on Christmas day she was most upset when, after opening my gift from her, I pulled an ‘are you sure this is for me’ face, checked the name on the wrapping, and then hid it amongst my other things so that my brothers wouldn’t see and laugh.

Now, you might think that I was just a rude teenager with no manners, but what you don’t realise is that my grandmother made a mistake when buying the electric toothbrush. It was indeed a toothbrush, and it had a large round handle just like the part on an electric toothbrush where you’d place the batteries, but on this brush, the handle was nothing more than a rattle.

She’d bought me a baby’s rattle toothbrush.

After Mum told me how upset my grandmother was at my reaction, I had to open the brush and put in in my mouth, making a pretend motor noise, loud enough to cover the jingle of the rattle. I smiled at my grandmother.

“It’s awesome,” I said. “Thank you.”

Big Book Day Out – This Sunday!

This is your reminder that this Sunday is the Big Book Day Out in Sydney. See below the exciting program.

It’s going to be great. Sunday, 31st of August. NSW Writers’ Centre, Callan Park Rozelle. 10am–2.30pm. Hope to see you there.

Big Book Day Out!!

Sydneysiders, put this date in your calendar – Sunday 31st of August!

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (NSW Branch) are holding a free event for all the family. There will be book launches, authors and illustrators galore to meet (including myself), author talks, illustrator demonstrations, books to buy and get signed, PLUS a jumping castle and face painting. It’s going to be awesome!

NSW Writers’ Centre, Callan Park Rozelle

10am–2.30pm

Author & Illustrator Afternoon Tea

Children’s author/illustrator afternoon teas are a wonderful thing, not least because there is always cake. The Children Book Council of Australia NSW Branch organise a number of them, and yesterday I had the pleasure of being involved in one at St Kevin’s in Dee Why. This one was organised through the Northern Suburbs sub-branch of the NSW Branch and they did a great job.

The authors and illustrators gathered were: myself, Tony Flowers, Oliver Phommavanh, Susanne Gervay, Toni Brisland & Belinda Murrell.

We all got to speak to three different groups for 20 minutes each. They great thing about these events is they really spark an interest in books and reading. You see the students buzzing about the corridors. Also it’s great to catch up with other authors and steal ideas from them when they’re not looking.

Here are some photos from the event. Please not that the corny-ness of them is all Susanne Gervay’s fault. She called out “I want more corn” and Susanne is not someone you say no to. I think that’s a pig I’m wearing on my head in the second one.

 

Writing Processes Blog Tour

A writing process blog tour has been doing the rounds, and I have been invited to participate by the wonderful Julia Cooke. It’s a great chance to read about how other authors operate. Follow the blog trail backwards and see what exciting things you can discover!! Julia’s blog can be found here: http://juliacooke.net/2014/04/28/writing-processes-blog-tour/

I love that she is a plant ecologist and a writer – what a great mix.

So, without further adieu, here are my answers to the same questions:

 

What am I working on?

This is actually a difficult question to answer because, after having not had the chance to write for a while, I’m about to return to it and I have a few projects I’m interested in developing. One is a picture book with a science-fiction/horror flavour, and another is a middle grade novel with a bit of a fantasy angle. Neither projects are in my usual genre and until I sit down and properly workshop them, I don’t know if either will work. I once heard a writer say that it is important in the early stages of working on something not to talk about it too much, as projects need to build up steam, and talking about them is the equivalent of taking the lid off the saucepan to check on its progress.

So … that’s all I can tell you at this stage.

 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I’m influenced so much by my childhood and I think that’s what makes my work unique – people are unique so the more an author puts themselves in their books, the more unique they will be. My storylines may not always be the most original (there’s a theory that there are only a small number of stories in existence anyway) but my characters aren’t like any others I know. I also read so many books across so many genres, so that when I unconsciously steal stuff, it’s never from 1 book.

 

Why do I write what I do?

I loved being a kid in primary school, and now, when I write, I get to be a kid again exploring the world with a sense of wonder and a belief that farts are hilarious. I love to laugh and make other people laugh, so it makes sense I write stuff that is (hopefully) funny.

How does my writing process work?

I start with an idea that really excites me. That idea might come from a dream, or something someone has said, or maybe it just popped into my head one day and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Whatever it is, it has to be a strong idea. I then sit down with pen and paper and start to sketch out a few things. I need what I call a story engine – this is the thing that’s going to drive the narrative. It includes information about my main character what he/she wants, what he/she needs, what fears he/she has and what major obstacles are going to be in his/her way. I also need a vague idea of where the story might end up (though this often changes throughout the writing process). I’ll then rule up a book with blank space for 30 chapters (generally my work fits into 30 chapters) and I write down little bits and pieces of what might happen in each chapter. If at the end of this process, I’m still excited about the idea and can’t wait to start actually writing, then I know I’m onto something good. So, I start writing, on the computer. Things always change when I start writing, mostly because I never really understand my characters and the world I’m writing about until I spend time being the characters and exploring the world. So as my story changes and I get lost, I’ll revisit my draft notes and revise them. I keep doing this, trying not to re-read my work too much (as you can get bogged this way) – the best thing to do is to try and finish a first draft. That draft is shown to my first reader (a very special person in my life who is excellent at pointing out what is working and what isn’t working). I then take a BIG break from the project as this gives you good distance to judge the work in a more subjective way. With a second draft I start with trying to fix what is not working and see where that takes me.

I like to do a minimum of three drafts before I’ll show a publisher, though the more drafts the better my work will be.

 

And that is my usual process … I hope it was of some interest to y’all.

 

Braille, Baby, Bridge Rd and Books

2013 flashed by. There were not many blog entries from me in the latter part of the year due to a major non-blog entry into my life, the birth of my son Jupiter. So, now that I have a bit of breathing space, let me recap some of the things I missed:

Sydney Braille Forum Awards

This lovely event each year is designed to promote more young people learning to read and write braille. With audiobooks and technology providing easy text to speech options, braille is being neglected and this is a real shame because braille is the most pure form of reading a vision-impaired person can have. Audio books are great but the person reading the book can’t help but inject their own interpretation. Long live braille, I say!

I was fortunate enough to be the guest speaker at this event. All winners received my book Chicken Stu, transcribed into Braille.

Look at the massive size of it. That’s all just one book!!

This photo of all the winners (below) with me is courtesy of the organisers and can be found at: http://brailleaustralia.org where you can also find out more information about the competition.

 

Books in Homes

My latest Books in Homes visit was to a small school in Camperdown, Bridge Road School. Many of the students at this school have it tough so it was my duty to try and spread my immense love of books to them. They were a delightful audience and I hope they enjoy their new books.

 

Out of Print

During the year I forgot to mention that I found some gems in a visit back home on the farm. These two books below are some of my earlier works that are sadly out of print now (I think I only did a few copies, 1 for my parents, 1 for each set of grandparents – I charged them about $50 a copy, which is a total bargain.) They make for very interesting reading indeed!!!

 

 

So what does 2014 have in stall? I’m not sure. There are a few exciting developments in the work that I can’t talk about yet. Hopefully I will finish the current manuscript I’m working on, which is taking me ages. If only there were more hours in the day. Stay tuned.

 

Happy New Year to everyone, may 2014 bring you much joy, or at very least a copy of one of my books.

Inside Story Event November 2nd

Hi all, I wanted you let you know about a wonderful event I’m appearing at: The Children’s Bookshop (Beecroft, NSW). 2nd of November. 2pm. Be there!

Here are the details:

The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators in conjunction with specialist bookshops launch

INSIDE STORY

Where children’s authors and illustrators give insights into the inside story of creating their books.

Meet NSW’s loved and acclaimed children’s authors & illustrators.

Award winning author Susanne Gervay will host:-

Deborah Abela, Jill Carter- Hansen, Christopher Cheng, Wai Chim, Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, Aleesah Darlison, Sarah Davis, Tony Flowers, Tracey Hawkins, Jan Latta, Nathan Luff, Alexa Moses, Yvette Poshoglian.

Free, Fun & Fantastic event.

With balloons, book signings & you can win Authors Susanne Gervay & Deborah Abela for a session at your school or library.

When: 2 p.m. Saturday 2nd November 2013

Where: THE CHILDREN’S BOOKSHOP, BEECROFT

6 Hannah Street, Beecroft; ph (02) 9481 8811; staff@thechildrensbookshop.com.au

INSIDE STORY will be also happening on 2nd November at Black Cat Books Paddington in Brisbane and The Little Bookroom in Melbourne.

Winning a Chocolate Oscar

Here is my belated report on the Stories on Screen event that was run by the CBCA (NSW Branch) earlier this month.

Each year, students get to create short films based on their favourite children’s books. The best films are shown at a ceremony in Sydney and the winner gets a chocolate Oscar. I loved the Oscars when I was a kid, and I still love chocolate, so winning this competition would have been my dream come true!!

I was fortunate enough to be the Master of Ceremonies for the event, equipped with some fantastic jokes about books, despite the audience’s lack of appreciation for them.

Here was my favourite joke:

What’s this? Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Not Wally, Wally, Wally …

It’s an audio book of ‘Where’s Wally’.

The wonderful Jacqueline Harvey was the guest speaker, and she was great. The highlights though were the films shown – they were fantastic! A huge congratulations to all the students who participated, including Jack from Newington College, who took home first prize (well, his mother and brother did because Jack was away on camp. I hope there is still some Oscar left for him when he gets home …) and another huge congratulations to the CBCA (NSW Branch) on such a well organised event.

If you’re interested in being part of this, you can read more about the competition here: http://nsw.cbca.org.au/pages/stories-on-screen.html

Below is a photo of me being mobbed by students afterwards at the book signing. I think they were after more excellent book jokes.

 

Poor Mr Percival …

I recently saw the stage play version of Storm Boy, a co-pro from Sydney Theatre Company and Barking Gecko Productions. It brought back memories …

Firstly it brought back the memory of reading Colin Thiele’s book, and seeing the Australian film version of the book when I was a kid. It is a very sad story about a boy and his friendship with a pelican, Mr Percival.

Then it brought back a slightly more harrowing memory …

On the farm where I grew up we didn’t have pelicans. We didn’t live near the sea and I think when I read Storm Boy, I’d never seen a pelican in real life. One day one of my brothers discovered a pelican out on one of our dams. This was a very rare spotting indeed and there was much excitement. Oh, I forgot to point out that the pelican was dead. Long dead. Still, a pelican is a pelican, dead or alive, so the pelican was brought home from the dam on a truck and we all all gathered around the corpse, marveling at the enormous bird. My mother then decided it was a good opportunity for a photo shoot. Of course, taking a photo of a dead animal is a little on the macabre side, so my four brothers and I were instructed to grab bits of the pelican and animate it so it looked alive. We all wore coats and gloves because we were all worried about maggots.

The photo, which unfortunately I don’t have a copy of, is one of the most disturbing yet funny photos my family has in its collection. The bird does not look even remotely alive. It is this floppy, disgusting rotting thing in our arms. The look of disgust on our faces as well is pretty hilarious.

Ahhh, the memories of growing up on a farm …